Why “THE TABLE”?
Throughout scripture, “the table” appears over and over as a place where God’s people commune with Jesus, humble ourselves, are all equal, create community, meet the physical needs of each other, receive grace, and workout what it means to be the body of Christ.
The table appears in the Old Testament temple holding the shewbread or “presence bread” representing the place where the nourishing presence of God rests.
In the New Testament, the table is a place where Jesus invites, sits, eats, teaches, forgives, and reaches both his disciples and his community. It is also a place where his disciples come to worship and enjoy His presence.
After Jesus ascends to heaven, the table becomes a place where God’s people come together to pray, fellowship, read God’s word, eat, and tell stories of God’s goodness.
The Table in Scripture
Psalm 23
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Acts 2
And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers….and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Luke 7
And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment..
Luke 14
And the master said to the servant, “go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
Matthew 15
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
Luke 22
…and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom…
Matthew 26
When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve….Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said “Take, eat: this is my body”.
Luke 14
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, to that when your host comes he may say to you “Friend, move up higher”. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted